[emidln]

If the goal is to teach functional programming with testing and signatures, is the awkward syntax (that isn't really very close to C#, Java, or Python) better than a set of macros on top of typed Racket?

It seems like it'd be easy to define a typedracket-derived #lang where you had to write:

    (define (sum a b) : [-> Integer Integer Integer]
      (where (= (sum 0 1) 1)
             (= (sum 2 2) 4))
      (+ a b))

And make the type signature and where clause non-optional with at least a single test.

[adjkant]

I think that's a very valid question. I think Pyret is attempting to reach out to people who may not view Lisp's favorably and still convey many of the valuable concepts. Whether or not it is the right approach or if it will translate properly is yet to be tested.

[skrishnamurthi]

It's not better [1], it's different. There's Typed Racket for people who want that. But many people suffer from visceral negative reactions when confronted with any kind of parenthetical syntax. Pyret was initially designed for them, and has since added on several of its own innovations.

[1] I, personally, love parenthetical syntax.

[fridsun]

The syntax looks really Haskell to me, so it's not that awkward.